Typically, wire is manufactured and then reeled or coiled for ease of storage, shipment, and handling. The reeled or coiled wire takes on undesired deformations including bends or kinks. In various types of manufacturing equipment that utilize wire, it is necessary to supply the equipment with wire that is precisely straight.
One conventional method of straightening wire is to use a wire straightener having two sets of rollers oriented at right angles, each set of rollers straightening the wire in its respective plane. The position of the rollers may be manually adjusted to accommodate wires of different dimensions as well as to apply a desired level and direction of straightening force to the wire.
Another conventional method of straightening wire, in the case of wire having a circular cross-section, is to use a spinning straightening device comprising a block of steel or other metal known as a “flyer” or “log” which houses several alternating adjustable dies and which spins around the axis of the wire at a very high speed. As the flyer spins around the wire, the wire is pulled or pushed through the dies in the flyer longitudinally. Two flyers may be used, spinning in opposite directions, to counteract any twisting caused by a single flyer spinning in only one direction. By adjusting the dies against the wire passing through the flyer, more or less pressure can be applied to the wire and the wire is dynamically straightened.
The effectiveness of a wire straightener for a given wire is dependent on the precise position of the rollers, such that even a slight adjustment to the rollers' position can change the resulting straightness of the wire. The conventional two plane wire straightener can be very finicky to adjust. Therefore, a wire straightener allowing the user to easily, consistently and repeatably adjust the rollers into a precise position is needed.
Coiling or other methods of storing wire can also result in helical deformation in the form of twists. The conventional wire straighteners discussed above do not directly remedy twists in the wire. Therefore, it would be advantageous for a wire straightener to also straighten twists in the wire.
The conventional spinning flyer wire straightener cannot be used on wire having a non-circular cross-section. While the conventional two plane wire straightener can be used on wire having a non-circular cross-section, as mentioned above it is finicky to adjust. Therefore, a wire straightener allowing the user to straighten wire having a non-circular cross-section, and which is easy to adjust, is needed.